asphyxiated by England, Ireland abandons its Grand Slam dreams at the last second

A drop from Marcus Smith after the siren gave England victory (23-22) on Saturday at Twickenham.

So this is what it takes to beat the XV of Clover. Driven by crazy intensity and extremely well-honed play, England took on Ireland at their own game and signed a prestigious victory (23-22) on Saturday March 9 at Twickenham. A drop from Marcus Smith after the siren gave victory to the XV de la Rose in an incandescent atmosphere. Overall dominated, but very realistic, Ireland is abandoning its Grand Slam dreams and will have to beat Scotland on Saturday March 16 in Dublin to retain its title.

The victory drop took a long time to arrive. Very long, even. Much of England lost its voice, shouting at scrum-half Alex Mitchell to move aside, as if he had an ear in every home. Marcus Smith was just waiting for this. And after a long series of upwind percussions, the opener was finally able to adjust the target. Even when unbalanced about ten meters from the poles, the prodigy did not fail. Already boiling, Twickenham could exult.

Deep down, the English knew the recipe for beating these Irish. It was given by Fabien Galthié, before the Vélodrome slurry (17-38), with “the intensity fought” as dogma. The French had failed to apply it, so the English did not hesitate to steal their strategy. Determined to contain the Irish in their camp and wean them from balls (53% possession, 60% occupation), the English were serious. Better still, they struck hard from the start, with a try from Ollie Lawrence at the end of the line after a cleverly orchestrated action (4th, 5-3).

For a time, the plan only half worked. Even applied, England could not break away because of the waste of its opener George Ford (1/4 foot, seven points missed). Especially since on the other side, Ireland adapted and was able to score during each of its rare visits within the English 40 meters. At the foot, at first, before taking control in a first movement of school size, superbly concluded by James Lowe (44th, 8-17).

England turned the tide

But, and this is undoubtedly how we recognize a team with confidence, England returned the favor straight away, with a recovery ball enhanced by George Furbank (48th, 13-17). Unleashed, the XV de la Rose pushed Peter O’Mahony to make a mistake (yellow card in the 58th) and immediately took advantage, with a try from the indestructible Ben Earl, 101 meters covered in 19 races on Saturday (58th, 20 -17).

It still took a little more to condemn the wounded Irish beast. Despite a tinkered three-quarter line, it continued its realism act by scoring again through Lowe in the corner (73rd, 20-22). This was before suffering once again, and too much, the tireless English pressure. The dreams of a double Grand Slam therefore end there for Andy Farrell’s players, who are still very close to retaining their title. A victory on Saturday March 16 against Scotland, beaten earlier in Italy, will be enough.